NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is now on its way to study the 'dark universe'

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has officially launched on its mission to explore dark matter, dark energy and other mysteries of the universe. NASA's new space telescope, which is able to image swaths of the sky 100 times larger than what Hubble could capture, launched this morning from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

The space agency confirmed shortly after launch that Roman had successfully deployed its solar panels and lower instrument sun shade. Over the coming days and weeks, the rest of its instruments will deploy and activate. Once it's all up and running, NASA says Roman will send home 1.4 terabytes of data a day. We can expect to see its first images in early 2027.

"Roman will be a discovery machine that will bring us closer than ever before to answering humanity's most profound questions about our cosmic history," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "With its large field of view and fast survey speeds, Roman will usher us into a new era of discovery and make the invisible visible, setting the foundation for humanity's search for life beyond our solar system."

In addition to helping scientists investigate dark matter and dark energy, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will observe exoplanets and planet-forming discs. NASA says it may measure light from a billion galaxies over the duration of its mission.